


The Fourth Tree

by HASA_Archivist



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: General, Post-War of the Ring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-03-22 11:33:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3727270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HASA_Archivist/pseuds/HASA_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The fourth tree's story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fourth Tree

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the HASA Transition Team: This story was originally archived at [HASA](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Henneth_Ann%C3%BBn_Story_Archive), which closed in February 2015. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in February 2015. We posted announcements about the move, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this author, please contact The HASA Transition Team using the e-mail address on the [HASA collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hasa/profile).

Hello World!

It is I, Telperion, unfolding once more, pushing my dicots up from the strong earth into the fair sky.

Quaking with joy I grow, oh a stem and true leaves, yes, that was Yavanna's plan for me and what pleasure to fulfill it!  Yet, something doesn't seem quite right.

This ground in which I grow, it is rocky.  This is not the rich tilth of the summermound.  Where am I?  Yavanna, Yavanna, where am I?  Why do you not reply?  Why do you not come?

I grow, but more slowly. I learn the name of my forsaken place from the stones:   Mindolluin.  Painstakingly, I push out a strong stem and more leaves.  I am not who I thought myself, not even the child or the grandchild of that one; I shall not shine and even as my roots probe the earth below me, I am aggrieved.

One comes now who knows what I might have been, Olorin, take me home!

He does, but home is only a courtyard with slightly richer earth than my birthplace.

 What I might have been is lost because of where I am planted.

I shall be a faithful tree.  I shall not nurse my resentments. But if I had been taken back to Valinor I would have shone though not as brightly as my foremother.  Since I am left here, Aman shall not know my special light.

My love is given to those around me, to the Kings of Gondor and their people.  The Valar have forsaken me, but I shall not forsake Gondor.  Because of where I am planted, I may not cast light, but I will cast luck and hope.  Yes, you who are near me shall have better fortune than I.

So be it.


End file.
